Build a trading identity with Ideology, qualifying goods trades and the Caravanner specialist.
Reviewed build: 0.1.190.146 FULL FIXED R4 · October 26, 2026. Built against RimWorld 1.6.4871. DLC requirements are listed below.
Requirements and role
Merchant Tradition requires Ideology. The expanded specialist is the Caravanner; the earlier role was described as Trade Envoy. Assign an eligible pawn with Social 6 and inspect the current role description before comparing older screenshots.
Mood and travel reference
| Condition | Documented effect |
|---|---|
| Qualifying goods trade of at least 100 silver | +4 mood for five days |
| Travelling in a caravan | +2 mood |
| Extended absence from trade | Potential -2 after the relevant 15-day grace period |
| Caravanner travel benefit | Non-stacking 10% travel bonus |
| Pack-animal carrying benefit | Non-stacking 10% capacity bonus |
A trade threshold applies to qualifying goods trades; do not assume every transfer, gift or price display counts the same way. Multiple specialists do not turn a non-stacking benefit into repeated multipliers.
Travel decisions
Forced March lasts six hours and has a saved five-day cooldown. Review fatigue and the trip before using it. Negotiated passage appears only in eligible human goods-demand encounters and is not universal immunity to hostility.
Prepare food, medicine, capacity, attached transport and rope leaders before departure. Incoming NPC trader markers belong to a separate system and are not player-controlled caravans.
Vulpite colony notes
Alcohol dependency remains part of Vulpite planning. Choose an ideology and policies compatible with the pawns’ needs rather than assuming a hunger adjustment changes alcohol rules. Biotech and Ideology enable different content and should be recorded separately in a bug report.
Related references
- Caravan preparation and transport
- Vulpite reference
- NPC trader journeys
- Full development update
- Individual build notes
- Release and compatibility notes
Source builds: .72-.73 and .100-.108. These references describe packaged beta behavior; focused tests do not establish complete live-game validation.
These references describe the reviewed beta build. Check the installed package and later release notes for changed recipes, values, dependencies and compatibility. A documented fix is not a substitute for live colony testing.